The present invention relates generally to exercise equipment, and is more specifically directed to equipment convertible from an exercising configuration to an article of furniture adapted to support at least one person in a seated position.
For a variety of different reasons, such as time constraints, privacy, or convenience, people often prefer to exercise in their own homes. In an effort to address this situation, there has been in recent years a proliferation of various different types of exercising apparatus for home use. Most of this equipment is of the stand alone type and requires that a person either leave the equipment out in the open, or have an area in which the equipment can be stored when not in use. While some of these devices may collapse to a configuration requiring less storage space, nevertheless, a person must still allocate an accessible storage location for the equipment. In contrast, some types of equipment, such as, for example, sets of weights and the benches used in connection therewith do not lend themselves to relocation for storage, as the weights are inherently quite heavy and the benches tend to be very cumbersome.
The problem of finding a place to store the exercise equipment or alternatively allocating a location wherein the equipment can be permanently located is exacerbated by the fact that people often live in apartments or crowded homes where sufficient storage or free space is simply not available. Accordingly, people in these situations do not buy exercise equipment, or they are forced to go to a gymnasium or join a health club in order to be able to work out on exercise equipment. Often, due to the inconvenience associated with having to travel to and from the gym, these persons forgo exercising altogether which can pose significant health problems.
Based on the foregoing, it is the general object of the present invention to provide an exercising apparatus that overcomes the difficulties and drawbacks of prior art exercising equipment.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide an exercising apparatus for home use that, when not functioning as exercise equipment, is convertible to an article of furniture adapted to support at least one person in a seated position.